Suzie the Yorkie at the centre of trailer park double homicide in Chilliwack River Valley
Robert Freeman, 83, allegedly killed John Kavaloff and Valerie Smith at Chilliwack River Valley trailer park in 2023
On Sept. 13, 2023, family members of John Kavaloff and Valerie Smith were horrified to learn the couple living peacefully in the Baker Trails Trailer Park in the Chilliwack River Valley were murdered in cold blood.
The horror became even more surreal when they found out the alleged killer was their neighbour, 83-year-old Robert Amede Freeman, and that the murders were over a dog.
"My parents were completely innocent, loving people – cherished grandparents – whose lives were tragically cut short by a mentally unstable [neighbour], all because of a grudge over their beloved Yorkie."
That from Travis Finnigan in a public Facebook post on the one-year anniversary of the murders of his parents. Finnigan went on to decry the fact that Freeman was out on bail that was granted eight days after his arrest.
"Over the past year, our family has endured not only the immense pain of losing Valerie and John but also the ongoing frustration and heartbreak of a justice system that continues to fail us."
As many victims of crime do, Finnigan also expressed his frustration with a criminal justice system that is at best slow and complicated, but often plodding, mind-boggling and cruel.
Freeman was due in court April 23, 2025 for a pre-trial conference in advance of his trial. Finnigan was at that conference and I spoke to him outside the courthouse. Much of what was said cannot be reported due to automatic publication bans on pre-trial conferences in advance of jury trials in BC Supreme Court.
The hearing was, however, brief as there was some discussion about psychological evaluations, at least one Charter question may be raised, and the case was put over for a voir dire hearing on July 21, 2025.
"Justice remains agonizingly out of reach," Finnigan wrote. "In the meantime, we are forced to live with the unbearable truth that Bob Freeman is living freely in our community, with no restrictions – no curfew, no ankle bracelet – while our parents are gone forever. He gets to spend holidays, birthdays, and family moments with his loved ones, while we are left with the devastating reality of my parents being ripped from our lives. Their absence leaves an unfillable void in the lives of their family, friends, and grandchildren."
"We demand justice, not just for Valerie and John, but for every family that has been betrayed by a system that values the rights of criminals over the safety and peace of victims."
Demand he might, but the case is not out of the ordinary regarding how it is playing out. The case is proceeding through the BC Supreme Court in Chilliwack as normally as any homicide.
Freeman was charged with two counts of second-degree murder one day after the killing, on Sept. 14, 2023, in what IHIT spokesman Sgt. Timothy Pierotti called "an isolated incident between neighbours."
Freeman's latest court appearance was on Jan. 6, 2025 at which a pre-trial conference was scheduled for Jan. 10 with his next appearance to set a next date on Jan. 20.
A reliable source contacted me to say the incident was not about the dog, Suzie, barking but that the elderly dog would frequently relieve itself in Freeman's yard.
"It wasn’t actually about barking but she was 14 years old and I know she sometimes would go into his very small yard, if you would call it that, and squat," they said. "She had so many seizures that she would squat a lot without anything really anything coming out."
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Paul J. Henderson
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